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Sometimes it is easy to predict when a CNS story is going to stir a huge buzz in the blogosphere, and that was certainly the case with our story last week on the Vatican’s effort to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon or LDS church. The story, which has been viewed more than 10,000 times as of this afternoon, reported that Catholic dioceses around the world have been directed not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons’ Genealogical Society of Utah.

That may not excite many ordinary Catholics in the pew, but it predictably struck a nerve in the Mormon world, where posthumous baptisms by proxy have been a common practice for more than a century. As CNS staff writer Chaz Muth reported, the practice allows the church’s faithful to have their ancestors baptized into their faith so they may be united in the afterlife.

Did Pope Benedict invoke divine intervention for the Washington Nationals when he celebrated Mass at Nationals Park last month? Probably not, but over the weekend I heard two local sportscasters here in Washington credit the pope with the Nationals’ recent winning ways.

Since the altar and other liturgical accoutrements at Nationals Park were disassembled and the field returned to its original purpose, the Nationals have won eight games at home and lost only three. Before the Mass, the team had won only two games at home and lost five. Overall, the team had a woeful 6-15 record before returning home the week after the papal Mass. (They’re now 14-18.)